Have been watching the "Breaking News" re: the downing Malaysia
flight #17 (that's not a hashtag). There have been many talking
heads speculating what has happened, the bottom line is that at
the time I am writing this ( 1231 hours, 17 July, 2014) all we
know for sure is that the plane is down in the area where the
Ukrainian Government and anti Government pro-Russian rebels
are disputing territorial control. Transparency is advised, lest
we continue to stumble towards WW IV.

Worthy of note is the repeated comparison between this incident
and the downing of KAL 007. The talking heads on ABC kept repeating
that the Soviets (now Russians) involved mistook Flight 007 for a
spy plane even though the pilot involved has since admitted he knew
he was firing on a civilian craft. (He did expand this comment to
say he also knew how easy it was to disguise a spy plane as a
civilian craft.). The continued effort to excuse Soviet activity
23 years after they lost the Cold War (more correctly: WW III) tells
me more about these guys than I want to know.

It is also worth noting that as of the 16th of July the Feds have
finally gotten around to banning the importation of Saiga rifles
and shotguns. I say finally because I am honestly surprised they
had not done so before. Izhmash's products have been a cash cow
for the Russians and I'm sure that they are a thorn in the
hoplophobes side. They are an obvious and legitimate target for
banning as part of sanctions against the Russians for their
aggression in the Ukraine. Now, if this ban is lifted when "we can
all be friends again" this will show good faith on the Feds' part.
On the other hand, if the ban stays in place after the current
crisis is over our opponents will have demonstrated their ability
to follow Rahm Emanuel's advice. Too bad the buachaill is better at
exploiting crises than resolving them.

Meanwhile, on an optimistic note, it is worth paying attention to
the fact that there are no patents on the AK series of weapons,
including those made under the Saiga name. Perhaps a few hundred
jobs could be created here in Texas making Pronghorn rifles and
shotguns using the basic AK action.

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